In Noam Chomsky's book, titled Media Control, there are a lot of concepts that seem to need adjustment for 2010.
First of all, the Internet is an outlet for public opinion. The men who own the powerful traditional media have to answer to the thousands of opinions that bang on their ears and glare in their eyes via the web.
The Raider Nation shouted, "Do something, get rid of JR." The attendance diminished tremendously at the stadium. People left games early. Folks cussed and wrote strong and critical articles about the performance of the Oakland Raiders.
Finally, Al Davis and his associates heard the plea; they heard the cry for change. Al Davis listened, finally.
If Davis had not listened, many believed that the coming years would have been a tragedy, a disaster, one which many would have been unable to survive, spiritually or financially.
The morale of the Raider Nation was sinking low. It was like the "bewildered herd" referred to in Chomsky's book. The context, however, is much different.
Here is a quote from his book (page 17-18), a quote which inspired this article: "We have to tame the bewildered herd, not allow the bewildered herd to rage and trample and destroy things."
If Davis and his associates had not made the decision that they made since the 75th Draft and the release of the 2007 draft choice for quarterback, I believe the Oakland Raiders franchise would have gone through "hell or high water."
Decisions had to be made "come hell or high water."
If not, sales for Oakland Raiders' products probably would have gone down, the Forbes rank would have gone below zero (if that is possible), and the traditional media would have caused a hurricane of criticism about how the franchise is manned and managed.
